Chicago Learning Exchange

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823445770
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3125729146
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$657,012
Expenses
$517,535
Assets
$349,180
Liabilities
$12,819

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Sana Jafri (Executive Dir.): $116,751 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Chicago Learning Exchange (CLX) is a nonprofit organization that connects and supports our city's array of out-of-school time youth-focused organizations in order to prepare youth, youth workers, and our city for the future.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community: The Organization convenes and supports a year-around community of primarily out-of-school time mentors and leaders to re-imagine and expand out-of-school time opportunities. The organization does this through monthly Meetups, which are onramps for OST practitioners to break down information silos; help organizations and educators build capacity through sharing in knowledge and growing social capital; Communities of Practice, which are longer in time and design in order to create and share knowledge about specific issues or topics (e.g. Youth Mentorship, Anti-Racism work).

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.3%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 66%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.2%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -16.5% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -22.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.3% of revenue deployed · 66% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $342K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $117K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.